Reply #6: here's the Dean campaign's response to Kerry's call for a 1-on-1 debate

[pruner]

Jim Jordan
Campaign Manager
Kerry for President

Dear Jim:

I received and reviewed your letter inviting Governor Dean to participate in a series of one-on-one debates with Senator Kerry at the exclusion of the other seven candidates running for the Democratic nomination.

As you know, there have been and will continue to be numerous forums and debates that will provide the opportunity for each of the candidates to discuss the issues, to debate their ideas and address their differences with Governor Dean – or any other candidate -- directly. In fact, just last week, Representative Kucinich highlighted the difference between his position and that of Dick Gephardt on the pre-emptive war in Iraq. Specifically, he said, “I just want to say that when you were standing there in the Rose Garden with the president and you were giving him advice, I wish that you would have told him no, because as our Democratic leader, your position helped to inform mightily the direction of the war.”

As you may recall, during the debate in New Mexico, Senator Joe Lieberman challenged Governor Dean’s position on trade, saying – correctly or incorrectly – that it would lead to a “Dean Depression.”

Senator Kerry will continue to have ample opportunity to debate the differences between himself and Governor Dean during the upcoming candidate forums in New York, Arizona and Michigan.

Jim, there are nine candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for President – each with his or her own ideas and policies and each with the goal of defeating George Bush next November. For ANY candidate to suggest otherwise is presumptuous.

Governor Dean’s campaign has been about returning democracy to the hands of the American people. We believe it is up to the American people to narrow the field – through the democratic nominating process – and not for any one candidate to subvert this process simply because “that suits us.”

We trust the American people to decide what suits them.

Sincerely,
Joe Trippi